Shifting Seas

Shifting Seas is a random encounter in Tales from the Tiers.

Transcript
You spot a peculiar sight in the distance - a giant plateau, much like the one you stride upon, has collapsed, tilting across a large chasm as it fell and smashing into the side of another, taller tower of stone and dirt. The two have fused into a single structure, with the remnants of the fallen plateau forming a narrow walkway along the chasm's edge. The newly-formed path isn't an easy one. Sudden ascents and uneven footing prove tiresome, while crumbling rock and loose dirt make for perilous travel. Deep shadows cast by the pillar above you blanket the path, making visibility worse than expected. Suddenly, the path in front of you ends, a fifteen-foot gap separating you from the walkable ground on the opposite side. You peer over the edge, but can only see a dark expanse beneath you. Above you, you see a small, rocky shelf with a tree bursting from its side, deeply embedded in the dirt. Use a pickaxe to carve your own path. Climb up to the shelf. Send Kills-in-Shadow to take a look around. Backtrack and find another way through this area. Loose dirt and crumbling rock are plentiful here, a dangerous combination but also one that may avail you now. With pickaxe in hand, you strike the side of the plateau wall, chipping away at it steadily. After a few minutes of work, you remove enough material to expose a rocky step. You place one foot upon it to test its stability and, thankfully, it holds. You continue this process, lifting dirt and stone out of the way to form one step after another. It's painstaking work, but before you know it, you've safely crossed to the other side. You continue onward, working your way through the rest of the steep path. The ledge begins to tilt upward, and you slowly make your way out of the shadowed chasm and back on to the wide expanse of a mercifully conventional stone pillar, where you're able to traverse across far more forgiving terrain. You find a few rocks emerging from the side of the plateau wall, and use them to pull your way up towards the shelf. The dirt is loose and the handholds unreliable, forcing you to continuously test every rock and root for stability. As you stretch your arms out to grasp the edge of the shelf, the rock underneath your left foot tumbles out of the wall, sending you sliding down the steep slope. You flail and grasp at anything that might break your fall, but nothing you touch stays rooted in the crumbling wall. You drop past the ledge, picking up speed, and as you brace yourself for a long fall, suddenly crash onto the ground. Dazed, you look around and realize that you've come to a rest on a large shelf, previously hidden by shadow, not very far from the ledge above. You laugh in relief, eliciting a sharp pain in your upper torso. A large rock was gracious enough to break your fall... and one of your ribs. You regulate your breath to minimize the discomfort and climb out, reaching the opposite side of the broken ledge. She leaps across the gap, stabbing her claws into the plateau wall midway to hold herself aloft. The beastwoman steadies herself for a moment, placing her feet against the wall before effortlessly launching herself to the opposite side. Now on stable ground, she settles back onto her haunches and scans the area. As she looks downward, she chuffs in apparent amusement, pointing towards the space beneath the gap at your feet. As your eyes adjust to the dim light, you see a large dirt landing directly underneath you, one that may be easily reached. You drop down and climb back up the opposite side, easily returning to the ledge. Deciding not to risk things any further, you turn around and take the ledge back to your starting location. There's no way to scale the massive plateau blocking your way, and thus you're forced to backtrack even further to find an alternate route. You eventually find a series of switchbacks that connects with a more circuitous trade route, but the detour ends up costing you a full day. You continue onward, working your way through the rest of the steep path. The ledge begins to tilt upward, and you slowly make your way out of the shadowed chasm and back on to the wide expanse of a mercifully conventional stone pillar, where you're able to traverse across far more forgiving terrain. You continue onward, working your way through the rest of the steep path. The ledge begins to tilt upward, and you slowly make your way out of the shadowed chasm and back on to the wide expanse of a mercifully conventional stone pillar, where you're able to traverse across far more forgiving terrain. Continue... Continue... Continue... Continue... Continue... Continue... Continue... Continue...